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Blogging in english

I have discovered over the last two months that blogging in Norwegian limits the number of readers and feedback, and participation in the general discussion on the subject that is on the top of my mind right now, Library 2.0. I have therefore decided to try blogging on this subject in english to see if I can participate and become a part of the Library 2.0 universe that seems to grow daily.

There are two main reasons for this, one is an interview I did with Michael Stephens for my podcast Bibliotek 2.0, in english, and I recieved moore feedback and responses on this podcast and the post on the podcast blog that on anything else I have written or podcast so far. This proved to me that there is a greater discussion that the one going on in Norway and the Scandinavian countries, and that it would be fun to participate in that discussion.

The second reason is the discussion recently on norwegian library e-mail lists on publishing in english or norwegian. I was a bit taken back by the provincialism and hostility from a lot of norwegian librarians to the thought of publishing in english and realized that this lack of acceptance of english as a professional language is one of the things that hold back norwegian librarianship. I rather want to be a part of the solution, not the problem. Therefore I have started publishing in english. Both for my norwegian fellow librarians, but also for a world-wide audience.

And lastly, sorry for all the mistakes in spelling and grammar in advance. I hope to have a lot of fun with this blog, so correct Queen’s english is not my top priority.

One comment on “Blogging in english”

It’s good to be able to read about the interesting things going on in Norway – and it continues to depress me that people with such a strong grasp of a second (or third, or fourth) language feel the need to apologise for their ability in that language.

My own grasp of Norwegian extends about as far as saying ‘thank you’, and ordering a beer (provided, in the latter case, hand gestures are also permitted!).